CTNS is committed to drawing theologians, religious scholars, ethicists, philosophers, and historians into conversation with natural scientists. Through this interaction, CTNS hopes to foster a legacy of mutually enriching scholarship that will continue to serve as a foundation for science-religion dialogue. Over its nearly twenty-five year history, CTNS has engaged in some of the most respected and well-known research on the relationship between the natural sciences and theology.

Collaboration with the Vatican Observatory

The Newest CTNS-Vatican Observatory Research Project:
Scientific Perspectives on the Problem of Evil

This newest CTNS-VO collaboration project moves 'behind' and 'prior' to the widely-discussed
problem of theodicy in the context of moral evil to what is routinely overlooked: the problem of theodicy in the context of natural evil (i.e., suffering,
disease, death, extinction, and so on). The series begins with the problem of natural evil at the level of physics and cosmology, where
natural evil serves as a refiguration of and precondition for moral evil in the underlying structure of the fundamental laws of nature.
From there it will move to evolution, genetics and thus the biological roots of moral evil.Physics and Cosmology: Scientific Perspective on the Problem of Natural EvilEdited by Nancey Murphy, Robert John Russell and William Stoeger, S.J.
First in the new CTNS-VO collaborative series
(Vatican Observatory – Vatican City State 2007.)
ISBN: 978-88-209-7959-1.

The CTNS/Vatican Observatory Joint Program: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action(CTNS/VO: 1990-2005). Beginning in 1990, CTNS and the Vatican Observatory co-sponsored a series of international research conferences on “scientific perspectives on divine action.” The series produced six scholarly volumes with contributions from over fifty distinguished scientists, philosophers and theologians. CTNS Founder
and Director Robert John Russell serves as the General Editor
of the CTNS/VO series. The
summaries from these articles are available on-line.

The CTNS-Vatican Observatory book series is the fruit of a multi-year collaborative research project between the two institutions. It brings together into creative mutual interaction a diversity of topics in contemporary systematic and philosophical theology and fundamental theories and groundbreaking discoveries in the natural sciences. Special attention is given to the theological concept of divine action in relation to the sciences. The series features an international team of scholars including cosmologists, physicists, biologists, cognitive neuroscientists and neuroscientists, philosophers of science, philosophers of religion, systematic and philosophical theologians, historians of religion and historians of science.

The series began with a call from Pope John Paul II in 1979 for "fruitful concord between science and faith, between the Church and the world." In response, Dr. George Coyne, Director of the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, organized the first major international conference in 1987 which resulted in the volume, Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding (1988). This volume includes an eloquent message from Pope John Paul II on the need for a fruitful dialogue between science and religion. Based on this, Dr. Coyne proposed a major new initiative: a series of five conferences to span the decade of the 1990s. Its goal would be to expand upon the research agenda begun in Physics, Philosophy, and Theology.

In 1990, CTNS accepted Dr. Coyne's invitation to co-sponsor the series and jointly publish the resulting papers. The resulting five publications focus on the problem of divine action from a particular scientific perspective: cosmology and the laws of nature (1993), chaos and complexity (1995), evolutionary and molecular biology (1998), the neurosciences and the person (1999), and quantum mechanics (2001). A multi-year grant from a bay area foundation supported the Center's collaborative work with the Vatican Observatory.

The annual J. K. Russell Research Fellowship in Religion and Sciencebrings internationally distinguished scholars in religion and science to the GTU.

Since 1981, J. K. Russell Fellows have been in residence at CTNS/GTU every year to conduct research, teach doctoral and seminary courses and present public lectures at the GTU and at other San Francisco Bay Area locations. These Fellows include Ian G. Barbour, Philip Clayton, John Cobb, Jr., Paul Davies, Celia Deane-Drummond, Lindon Eaves, George F.R. Ellis, Niels Henrik Gregersen, John Haught, Philip Hefner, Martinez Hewlett, Robert W. Jensen, Mary-Claire King, Nancey Murphy, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Arthur R. Peacocke, Ted Peters, John Polkinghorne, William R. Stoeger, S.J., and Joseph Zycinski.

The annual J.K. Russell Fellowship in Religion and Science
was created in memory of John K. Russell (1896-1958). Mr.
Russell, born of Italian immigrants, was an industrial engineer
and humanitarian.

2011 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship / CTNS 30th Anniversary ConferenceGod and Creation: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Perspectives on Scientific Cosmology
The speakers for the God and Creation conference will be the 2011 J.K. Russell Research Fellows.

Past CTNS J.K. Russell Research Fellows

Thomas Tracy--2010
Scientific Vetoes and the "Hands-Off God": Can we Say that God Acts in History?

Francisco J. Ayala—2008-2009
Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion

George V. Coyne—2007-2008Twenty Years After the New View from Rome: Pope John Paul II on Science and Religion

Celia Deane-Drummond—2006-2007
The Evolution of Sin and the Redemption of Nature

Robert W. Jensen  1990
Does God Have Time? The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Concept of Time in Physical Sciences

John Polkinghorne  1990
The Church and the Environmental Crisis: Which Way Are We Heading?
God's Interaction with the World: Research Proposals by John Polkinghorne
The Challenge of Physics to World Religions